More than a hint

Barbara Lynch Hill

Monday, January 14, 2013

Unbelievably – to me – it was 32 years ago that I began writing this column. It was exciting then. Still is. An initial piece was about the joy of the kind of job I’d always dreamed of and how much I was looking forward to settling into our new hometown (after 22 previous moves) and getting to know Summerville and her people. It had been 25 years since I’d had a job outside the home and I was definitely a very senior “cub reporter.”
Since then I’ve fallen in love with Summerville and written about her leaders, citizens, history and homes. Recipes have been a popular part of my columns and many of them have come from you. I’ve written – naturally – about my children and grands as well as about old friends and new. I’ve also ruefully described personal goofs ranging from failed recipes such as the one that resulted in a dip that exploded just before a party and the time I jumped into the wrong red truck in a mall parking lot. I was well into a tale of a disappointing sales experience before I realized that the man grinning at me from behind the wheel was not my husband. Jim was grinning at me too, but from the adjoining vehicle. When I started this column it was called “Late Bloomer,” a most appropriate title as I was then in my mid forties.
But I remembered a favorite college English professor who always encouraged any creative spark by urging me to just “start with an inkling!” And so I renamed these weekly 500 or so words with a new heading which I thought was also a good semi pun dealing with printer’s ink. With a New Year beginning it’s a good time for me to reflect on the past, count my blessings – which most definitely includes felicitations those of you who continue to read and encourage me – and start with an inkling of what 2013 might bring.
The first time I wrote about my daughter Cathy she was a freshman at The College of Charleston where she now works in development. Son David had just graduated from Summerville High and was off to Clemson. He now practices architecture. Jimmy, our special needs son, was adjusting to life at the excellent Coastal Center where he still thrives, being nurtured and challenged and continues to enjoy as much jazz as possible. His twin, Mary Clare, was in middle school and just taking up the saxophone. Now she teaches music by day and plays jazz sax in several venues.
Jim had just retired after 25 Air Force years and gone to work in civilian aviation. And I had just retired from being a full time wife and mom to become a full time working wife and mother. Jim and I are now “retired retired” – mostly – but I still get to be a columnist and we both stay active with the people and things we love, beginning with our six grands ranging from 19 to four.
This particular column was inspired on Christmas Eve when we were given a bottle of red wine called “inkling.” It was a gift of Kathy Goebel our son’s mother in law. David picked it out. “I just couldn’t resist,” he told us.
And I couldn’t resist reading the label. It touts the contents as “a work of art or an inkblot test (that) reveals itself in different ways to different people “ That’s not a bad goal for me for 2013 – even if it does come from the back of a bottle of California Cabernet Sauvignon. Webster refers to inklings as hints. I think there’s a bit more to it
In Vino Veritas?

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